1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system of electronic reprographics and, more particularly, to a system of electronic reprographics in which fault clearance and recovery instructions are provided.
2. Description of the Related Art
In light lens printing systems, a lamp or flashing unit flashes light on a document and has an image created synchronously on a photoreceptor belt. The photoreceptor belt picks up toner from which a copy is made.
In electronic reprographic printing systems, a document or series of documents comprising at least one print job are successively scanned. Upon scanning of the documents, image signals are obtained and electronically stored. The signals are then read out successively and transferred to a printer for formation of the images on paper. Once a document is scanned, it can be printed any number of times or processed in any number of ways (e.g., words deleted or added, image magnified or reduced, etc.). If a plurality of documents comprise a job which is scanned, the processing or manipulation of the scanned documents can include deletion of one or more documents, reordering of the documents into a desired order, or addition of a previously or subsequently scanned document or documents. The printing or processing can be relatively synchronous with scanning, or asynchronous after scanning. If asynchronous, a time interval exists between scanning and printing or processing. The system can then accumulate a number of scanned jobs in the system memory for subsequent processing or printing. The order of the jobs to be printed may be different from the order of jobs as scanned depending on the priority of the jobs and the desires of the operator for increasing productivity or through-put and decreasing printer or scanner down-time.
For a variety of reasons, operation in an electronic reprographic system can be interrupted. This can be the result of a scanner or printer fault, hardware or software faults, paper misfeed, intentional interruption, memory loss, etc. Upon such an interruption due to scanner fault, the operator, not knowing precisely what caused the fault, must either attempt to locate the origin of the fault or place an order for a service call. Both options can be extremely time consuming and can result in an unacceptable degree of down-time. When a fault occurs while the system is building a job, not only is down-time a result, but documents present in the paper path can be damaged and the integrity of the job cannot be guaranteed.
The related art has disclosed document processing systems which include fault detection and recovery capabilities.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,985 to Akahoshi et al discloses a document processing apparatus having fault detection capabilities. A technique of replacing an existing faulty resource at power up is shown. A self-diagnostic test is run every time power-up occurs. The diagnostic test checks which task modes are affected by a faulted resource so that other task modes can still be completed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,895 to Makita discloses an early failure detection system for multiprocessor systems wherein a current status of an apparatus is monitored during idle microprocessor states to detect faults. If a failure occurs, that microprocessor is separated from the rest of the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,090 to Downing et al discloses a remote processor crash recovery wherein a number of control boards are used to control a copier's functions. A list of possible faults is checked to monitor current system status. A method of recovering from a board crash is shown. In addition, a technique to recover from a hardware crash is also shown. A display is used to make a user aware of a fault.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,834 to Seko et al discloses a copying apparatus having a computer controller. A display at the computer allows an operator to fix a fault as it occurs.
While the related art does include fault detection and recovery capabilities, it does not disclose fault clearance and recovery operations for an electronic reprographic system which categorize faults according to their characteristics and enable independent functions to continue.